The Porsche 918 Spyder Means Business with a 7:14 Around the ‘Ring

Today’s supercars are taking on a new direction; while some are still comfortable in sticking to the good ol’ tower of power V12s to launch them off the roads like Lamborghini’s Aventador and Ferrari’s new F12, others are going to the downsizing-and-boosting route like McLaren with their twin-turbo MP4-12C. Another trend that is slowly shaping the future supercars that we might be seeing in a couple of years is the hybrid route where the next-gen NSX will have it, the new F70 Enzo successor, and the one that is almost out from the pipeline, the Porsche 918 Spyder.

While the 918 does look properly good with no major differences made from the concept version, Porsche had just took the 918 down to the proving grounds of the Nurburgring in showing what this hybrid supercar can really achieve. With a 7:22 target time, the 918 defied the odds as it completed the 20.6km circuit in a blistering time of only 7 minutes and 14 seconds!

If you are somehow a bit fuzzy on how fast 7:14 is, the 2011 Nissan GT-R did it in 7:24.22, the Lexus LFA in 7:22, and the 2012 Corvette ZR1 in 7:19.63! This is probably not a big surprise as Porsche had spent sleepless nights in perfecting the 918, and not to forget that it comes with a massive output of 784-hp.

Although Porsche did not include neither the full lap time of this new supercar, nor what type of package or tires it was running on, it is nevertheless a superbly-fast lap time that definitely deserves respect. We might not have the footage of this blistering run for the time being, but do enjoy this short clip of the 918 Spyder recorded during the recent Gran Turismo Nürburgring EVO 2012.